Winona State University, the Minnesota History Center, and the Southwest/West Center Service Cooperative

Topics:

political and constitutional history, Native American cultures, immigration, the region's role in American history, and economics and commerce in American history

Methods:

professional development sessions, summer institutes, visits from historians, field trips, electronic networking, and consulting assistance

The state's comprehensive assessments show a significant achievement gap between White and minority students, as much as 44.7% between subgroups in some subjects. From 2000-01 to 2004-05, the numbers of limited English proficient, free and reduced price lunch, and special education students rose by 19, four, and 28%, respectively. The project will broaden teacher knowledge of American history content, improve teaching strategies, and create an ongoing relationship among southern Minnesota's K-16 educators and other history specialists. The project will do this by providing professional development for up to 700 American history teachers that includes inquiry-based learning approaches with content introduction and research. The content delivery will increase teacher content knowledge, centered on five core themes, through week-long summer institutes and one-day trainings held throughout the school year.